Where did Aragorn find Athelas for Frodo?

Q: Where did Aragorn find Athelas for Frodo?

ANSWER: In the chapter “Flight to the Ford” in The Fellowship of the Ring, after Frodo has been stabbed by the Lord of the Nazgul at Weathertop, Aragorn returns to the hobbits with a small amount of athelas, an ancient Numenorean healing plant. Aragorn tells the hobbits:

‘These leaves,’ he said, ‘I have walked far to find; for this plant does not grow in the bare hills; but in the thickets away south of the Road I found it in the dark by the scent of its leaves.’ He crushed a leaf in his fingers, and it gave out a sweet and pungent fragrance. ‘It is fortunate that I could find it, for it is a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Middle-earth. Athelas they named it, and it grows now sparsely and only near places where they dwelt or camped of old; and it is not known in the North, except to some of those who wander in the Wild. It has great virtues, but over such a wound as this its healing powers may be small.’

The Great Road was the ancient border between Cardolan and Rhudaur, who according to “The Line of Isildur” in “Appendix A” in The Lord of the Rings often fought for possession of Weathertop:

…There was often strife between the kingdoms, which hastened the waning of the Dúnedain. The chief matter of debate was the possession of the Weather Hills and the land westward towards Bree. Both Rhudaur and Cardolan desired to possess Amon Sûl (Weathertop), which stood on the borders of their realms; for the Tower of Amon Sûl held the chief Palantír of the North, and the other two were both in the keeping of Arthedain.

It would therefore seem likely that Cardolan had maintained some sort of outpost between the South Downs and the Great Road facing Weathertop, either a fortress or a fortified town, from which it could send forces to attack or defend Weathertop at need. Although there are no named towns or ruins in this area, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” suggests that Elendil’s people once settled throughout Eriador:

Elendil was cast up by the waves in the land of Lindon, and he was befriended by Gil-galad. Thence he passed up the River Lhûn, and beyond Ered Luin he established his realm, and his people dwelt in many places in Eriador about the courses of the Lhûn and the Baranduin; but his chief city was at Annúminas beside the water of Lake Nenuial. At Fornost upon the North Downs also the Númenóreans dwelt, and in Cardolan, and in the hills of Rhudaur; and towers they raised upon Emyn Beraid and upon Amon Sûl; and there remain many barrows and ruined works in those places, but the towers of Emyn Beraid still look towards the sea.

Although Tolkien does not explicitly write that the Numenoreans settled in the South Downs, the strategic position of Weathertop demanded the placement of forces nearby, and Aragorn stipulated that the athelas would only grow where it had once been cultivated by the Men of Westernesse.

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